• Despite winning the 2025 national championship, Indiana football faces a significant rebuild after losing numerous star players to the NFL.
• Las Vegas sportsbooks have surprisingly installed Indiana as the favorite to win the 2026 national title.
• Coach Curt Cignetti must now motivate a new roster that has a target on its back, a different challenge than leading an underdog team.

Nevada’s gross gaming revenue hit a record $15.6 billion in 2024, and another record year is expected when the 2025 numbers are released. 

The fourth straight year of record-breaking revenue for an industry whose sole purpose is to get it right way more often than wrong.

And even Vegas can’t figure out Indiana. 

Multiple Nevada books have installed Indiana as the team to beat in 2026, which may be Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti’s biggest trick yet. The billion dollar industry, with sharps who routinely nail point and win totals to the number, have decided to simply ride with Cignetti despite Indiana’s heavy rebuild. 

Buy Indiana championship prints!

Not a bad idea, but yet another massive overlook of the unthinkable that transpired in Bloomington, Ind., over the past two years.

“There’s no mystery,” Cignetti said two days before the Hoosiers beat Miami in the College Football Playoff national championship game. “Players win games.”

Yeah, well, some in Vegas aren’t having any of it despite a roster overhaul that clearly underscores players win games. Specifically, players who have moved on to the NFL. 

• All-American quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza. 
• Running backs Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black, both 1,000-yard rushers. 
• Wide receivers Elijah Surratt and Omar Cooper Jr., who combined for 134 catches and 28 touchdowns. 
• Center Pat Coogan, an All-American and Rose Bowl Offensive Player of Game.
• Linebacker Aiden Fisher and cornerback DeAngelo Ponds, both All-Americans. 
• Disruptive edge (and All-American) Stephen Daley, who missed the national championship game with an injury.

These aren’t throwaway, replaceable players. They’re the foundation of Cignetti’s buildout, the undisputed reason Indiana this season rolled everything in its path. 

I don’t care what Indiana accomplished in the transfer portal over the past month — and it was an impressive haul — it can’t come close to replicating what the Hoosiers lost. It can’t, in any way, replace the chemistry and emotional edge from the 2025 team. 

Indiana has gone from the cute story that didn’t deserve to be in the CFP in 2024, to the giant killer in 2025, to the favorite to win it all in 2026. That remarkable program jump doesn’t happen without a rare combination of motivation, character and humility — to say nothing of elite talent. 

The whole “we’re not five-stars” mantra is gone now, replaced by the only hardware that matters. The push, the drive to be better than everyone on every Saturday, must now be rebuilt and reengaged.

The greatest accomplishment of Nick Saban at Alabama wasn’t necessarily the six national titles. It was convincing players even though they reached the mountaintop a year ago, there’s even better gold up there this time around. Now go get it.

Cignetti and his staff have proven they can evaluate and develop. They know the game, and they’re elite teachers. The next step: Can they motivate with the target on their back? 

Truth be told, Indiana could’ve made a deep run in the 2024 CFP if it had a more accomplished quarterback. Kurtis Rourke played well, but he wasn’t a difference-maker.

Now Cignetti has put the team in the hands of TCU transfer Josh Hoover, a talented thrower who’s more like Rourke than Mendoza. More to the point, he’s not walking into a ready-made championship contender like Mendoza saw in January of 2025.

Mendoza was recruited heavily by Georgia and Miami, and said he chose Indiana because of Cignetti — and because of the unique team dynamic. He wanted to play for a team that was hungry and motivated, and played for each other. 

As corny and contrived as that may sound to those on the outside, it’s the lifeblood of teams on the inside. It’s not carried over from season to season, and not a switch you flip. 

It’s real and tangible, and the ability to consistently find it comes after years of not only winning big games, but finding ways to win games you should lose. That’s how championships are consistently won. 

Indiana had no business beating Penn State in November, and could’ve easily lost to Miami in the national championship game. But the talent on the field — and the will and want to find a way — wouldn’t wilt in the moment.

That’s how one player blocks a punt in the national championship game while in punt safe. How one player ends the championship game by knowing the coverage, and knowing he had help over the top, and making a play on a deep throw. 

It’s a goal line stand against Ohio State, and a throw to the back of the end zone against Penn State. 

It’s a fourth-down quarterback draw for a touchdown, a run for the ages while getting pinballed and punished by a defense desperate to make a stop.   

And Vegas is betting on Cignetti. 

Not a bad idea, but a lot of work to be done.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.    

• U.S. Olympians Erin Jackson and Alysa Liu are both contenders for gold medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
• The athletes demonstrate that different personality traits and cognitive styles can lead to elite athletic success.
• Figure skater Alysa Liu is described as a free-spirited artist who thrives on spontaneity and fun.
• Speedskater Erin Jackson is known for her analytical and academic approach to her sport.

NEW YORK — Erin Jackson, the pragmatic speedskater, missed practices in high school while she was building a robot.

This pair of U.S. Olympians, each with her own winding journey, demonstrate how different personality traits and cognitive styles — how their brains work — can lead to athletic greatness.

“Different athletes may arrive at excellence via very different mixes of focus, creativity, emotional control, risk tolerance and social engagement,’ Paul McCarthy, a psychologist in Great Britain who has worked with athletes, told USA TODAY Sports. “The sport sets the constraints; the brain finds its own solution.’

And some brains are built better for Olympic success.

Jackson, 33, won the women’s 500-meter speed skating event at the 2022 Beijing Games and became the first Black woman to win a gold medal in an individual event at the Winter Olympics. She also graduated cum laude from the University of Florida Honors Program with a Bachelor of Science in Materials Science & Engineering.

Liu, 20, became the youngest U.S. women’s figure skating champion at age 13. She spent a year studying at UCLA before ending her two-year hiatus from skating in 2024 and becoming a world champion in 2025.

Their approaches are as different as their disciplines, but both women are expected to contend for gold medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Alysa Liu can’t live without fun

In October, Liu was one of about 60 athletes to attend the Team USA media summit in New York ahead of these winter games in Milano Cortina. She was the only athlete to modify a standard blue United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee T-shirt to create an off-the-shoulder look.

“… I was like, I can’t change the color, but I can change the shape and I have haircutting scissors with me,’ she explained.

Viola!

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As singular as her remixed T-shirt, Liu said she seeks fun that has included late-night karaoke and a trip to a video game café near her home in Northern California that kept her out until 4 a.m.

“I just can’t live without fun,’ she said. ‘ … Some days I oversleep my training and I wake up and I’m like, ‘Now what?’ And then some days I’ll be like, ‘Hmm, now I want to go to (Lake) Tahoe and swim.’ And so we’ll do that.’

She also talked of hiking in Nepal with a friend and her friend’s mother. “We were fighting over the silliest things, like, would you rather be a cow or a chicken? … But trust it was deep and meaningful.”

Of figure skating, Liu said, “It’s definitely an art form. I view it very much as that. But it satisfies me on a technical side, like spins and jumps and running the program itself, those are really hard. Those are difficult. And I like being an athlete.

“And then this sport, it’s also artistic. You get to pick music, design your dresses, do choreography, like dancing, but it’s very limited … you can’t do hip hop on ice. That does not look good. A lot of dance styles are awkward on the ice and you’re not able to portray. I have a lot of concepts in my head. I’m not able to do them in skating, and that’s fine. So I’ll just have to find another outlet for that part of my brain, I guess.”

‘An artist, above all’

Liu’s father, Arthur, said he was unaware of the T-shirt his daughter transformed at the media summit in New York. But he didn’t sound surprised.

“I think she calls herself an artist, above all,’ he told USA TODAY Sports. “The way she interprets the music, the way she moves, it’s very artistic.’

At the U.S. figure skating championships in January, Liu debuted a new, edgy free skate set to the music of Lady Gaga. She also sported alternating stripes of platinum blond in her naturally dark hair.

Brian Boitano, the retired figure skater who won an Olympic gold medal in 1988, said the decision was “in Alysa Liu fashion.’

“For a skater to change their program a month before the Olympic is just unheard of,’ Boitano said on USA TODAY’s Milan Magic podcast.

It oozed the kind of fun Liu seems to look for, and the kind of fun her father said Alysa experienced when she started skating at 5 years old.

“She just took off on the ice,’ he said. “She was just chasing adults, hockey players, and making friends and with adults and girls of her own age, boys of her own age. She was just having so much fun on the ice.’

Laura Lipetsky, who was Alysa’s first coach and worked with her for about 10 years, said, “I helped her see performances as just another way to have fun. … We did role-playing pretending it was the Olympics, and kept everything fun, so pressure felt exciting instead of intimidating.’

The fun she craves and savors — the kind she showed as a youngster on the ice — was harder to come by during the pandemic, her interactions with other skaters at the rink restricted. Arthur Liu said he traces his daughter walking away from the sport in 2022 to exactly that. But on a ski trip in 2024 during her hiatus, he said Alysa rediscovered that sense of fun. Holding on to is has been a priority since her return.

There’s another distinguished aspect of Liu’s mind. Arthur Liu said Alysa was doing puzzles at age 2, completed first and second grade in the same year, and is a fast learner on the ice. As Arthur recently heard Boitano say, as soon as Alysa learns a move, she’s “competition ready.”

Erin Jackson’s ‘good relationshp with loss’

Jackson greeted reporters at the Team USA media summit wearing Olympics attire, unmodified by haircutting scissors. While Liu’s media session at times felt like a theme-park ride, Jackson’s felt like an escalator ride – smooth, without any loop-de-loops.

Jackson acknowledged feeling some pressure defending her Olympic title in the 500-meters, but said she doesn’t attach herself to the outcome of her performances.

“I don’t think with sports it was ever that way for me just because I didn’t grow up really as an athlete,’ she said. “I grew up as more of an academic or a student and then got into focusing on sports much later in my life. … So I feel like that also helped me with my approach to athletics and performance.

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“I think I came in with that mindset of kind of having a good relationship with loss.’

Because a loss is something Jackson can learn from. When asked about her hope to compete beyond these Winter Games despite recurring back issues, she said: “I feel like I still have so much to learn.’

And when asked about Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, a grueling reality show Jackson won in 2023, Jackson said: “It’s not fun, but you’ll learn a lot.’

Although Jackson took up speedskating in 2017, she started another form of skating five years before that – roller derby. Jackson joined the New Jax City Rollers — a travel team based Jacksonville, Florida, about 100 miles north of where she grew up — in 2012.

“I just think it’s so fun,’ Jackson said. “It’s the only team sport I’ve done, so it’s just amazing to have that community and just have like people to share the track with. …

“If you haven’t seen a roller derby event, I really recommend it.’

‘We’d have to drag her out’

Renee Hildebrand started coaching Jackson before Jackson transitioned to speed skating from inline skating.

“She asked more questions than probably any skater I ever had,’ Hildebrand said. “Always very analytical. While she was in high school, she did the engineers’ program there. And they built a robot and did things like that, and I used to get mad because she missed so much skating.’

Although Jackson did not sacrifice academics for skating, she approached the sport with the same focus as she did building that robot.

Said Hildebrand, “If you tell her something, she can apply that right away to her skating. You only got to tell her once and she’ll go out there and figure out how to do it.’

Hildebrand said two of her top skaters struggled with starts when they transitioned to speedskating from inline skating. But not Jackson, who began working with a new coach.

“She definitely has the curiosity of how things work and why they work,’ she said. ‘But she also has the ability to put it all together and understand it, which is amazing that she’s just that smart that she can figure out things like that.’

Stephanie Gentz, one of Jackson’s roller derby teammates, said the Olympic speedskater is ultra focused on the track. But Gentz also said Jackson is witty, will laugh at herself and can be pushed beyond her comfort zone.

“After games, after tournaments, they always have an afterparty and we’d make her dance with us,’ Gentz said. “We’d have to drag her out. But when we did, we would all have fun.’

Olympians shaping ‘how intelligence is expressed’

Taylor, the psychologist from Great Britain, shared his thoughts on the athletes’ brains – in particular the ones that belong to Jackson and Liu.

“From what we know, personality traits and cognitive styles do reflect differences in how the brain functions, but not in a simple ‘smart vs. not smart’ way,’ he said. “Traits like openness, conscientiousness, novelty-seeking, and emotional regulation map onto different neural networks and neurotransmitter systems. Those differences influence how someone learns, stays motivated, tolerates risk, and responds to structure – rather than raw intelligence alone.’

Taylor said Liu and Jackson strike him as good illustrations of this distinction.

“Alysa’s curiosity, spontaneity, and willingness to step away from a rigid system suggest high openness and intrinsic motivation,’ Taylor said. “That kind of mind can be deeply intelligent, but it thrives on exploration rather than routine.

“Erin’s background in engineering, combined with her athletic success, points to strong executive function, planning, and analytical thinking – yet her roller derby experience and dry humor show flexibility and playfulness that do not fit a ‘serious’ stereotype.’

What’s especially interesting, Taylor said, is elite sport seems to allow multiple cognitive and personality pathways to success, sometimes even within the same discipline.

“Different athletes may arrive at excellence via very different mixes of focus, creativity, emotional control, risk tolerance, and social engagement,’ he said. “The sport sets the constraints; the brain finds its own solution. We also cannot forget the social and environmental influences in this admixture. 

‘So, yes — personality traits are tied to the brain and how it functions, but they don’t sit in opposition to intelligence. They shape how intelligence is expressed, sustained, and translated into performance. That diversity may be one of the reasons elite sport is such a rich lens into human cognition.’

Free agency never really ends, as general managers are likely to tell you as the January cold gives way to the promise of Florida sunshine. Yet the pickings are getting ever slimmer on Major League Baseball’s free agent market – especially the hitting side.

A pair of difference-making starting pitchers are still available, along with a decent swath of reliable, itinerant veterans who can pad out the middle or back of the rotation. But it’s getting late late, as one might say, as teams aim to wrap up their dealmaking before camps begin opening Feb. 10.

A ranking of the top remaining free agents:

1. Framber Valdez (32, LHP, Astros)

Not sure if he’ll sniff the Max Fried rent district for lefty starters but it never hurts when you’re literally one of two on the market. Valdez is consistently right around 200 innings, has a championship pedigree and suppresses the home run ball. Not an ideal conclusion to his Houston era, but it’s also easy enough to hand him the ball and set your alarm clock for September.

2. Zac Gallen (30, RHP, Diamondbacks)

He led the NL in WHIP (0.91) and the majors in fewest hits per nine innings (5.9) in 2022, but regressed to 1.26 and 8.3/8.1 the past two seasons. He was much better once the trade deadline passed, posting a 3.32 ERA in his last 11 starts.

3. Lucas Giolito (31, RHP, Red Sox)

Giolito finally turned the page on a pair of injury-ravaged seasons to make 26 starts and post a 3.41 ERA, enough to comfortably decline his $19 million player option. Giolito completed at least six innings in 15 of his 26 starts, though he missed a playoff outing with elbow soreness.

4. Eugenio Suárez (34, 3B, Mariners)

Forty-nine home runs at age 34: What kind of a price do you put on that? Suarez, a free agent for the first time in his career, is about to find out. Suitors know what they’re getting: Punishing power, a ton of strikeouts, suboptimal defense at third but off the charts on the clubhouse affability index.

5. Chris Bassitt (37, RHP, Blue Jays)

A little high for the reliable righty? Well, consider that there are so few Chris Bassitts out there and this one just completed a three-year, $63 million deal with numbing consistency: 32 starts a year, a 3.89 ERA, nearly six innings per start. He topped that off with a selfless stint in the playoff bullpen, where he gave up one earned run in seven appearances.

6. Max Scherzer (41, RHP, Blue Jays)

He indicated after World Series Game 7 that he hadn’t thrown his final pitch, and he posted often enough in 2025 that the standard one year, $15.5 million deal should still be waiting for him.

7. Justin Verlander (43, RHP, Giants)

Those videos of Verlander and Scherzer playing bridge in the nursing home are gonna be wild 40 or so years from now. For now, though, they’ve got innings in their arms and for Verlander’s sake, hopefully he can find a home that’s both pitcher-friendly but also not totally lacking in run support: His 3.85 ERA resulted in a 4-11 record as he sits on 266 wins.

8. Luis Arráez (28, INF/DH, Padres)

Let the Arráez Rorshach tests begin. Do you see a singles hitter with a league average OPS? Or a magician with elite bat-to-ball skills? A three-time batting champion with three teams? Or a guy who can never justify his lack of slug despite all those one-baggers. Be interesting to see what the market thinks.

9. Nick Martinez (35, RHP, Reds)

More invaluable than his peripherals indicate, Martinez took the ball 82 times over two years in Cincy, including 42 starts, and amassed 6.3 WAR and a steady 3.83 ERA.

10. Jose Quintana (37, LHP, Brewers)

Can we at least spare this man the indignity of nosing around for a job in March?

11. Paul Goldschmidt (38, 1B, Yankees)

Until further notice, he remains a decent right-handed platoon option at first, the Yankees eminently pleased at the 1.2 WAR and clubhouse gravitas he provided.

12. Rhys Hoskins (33, 1B/DH, Brewers)

A bumpy couple of years in Milwaukee, where injuries and the emergence of Andrew Vaughn cut Hoskins out of the fun this past season. He struck out more than once per game as a Brewer but did salvage league-average OPS thanks to his power.

13. Zack Littell (30, RHP, Reds)

Littell completed the transition from swingman to full-fledged starter the past two seasons and this year reached 186 ⅔ innings with Tampa Bay and Cincinnati. Just 130 strikeouts might give suitors pause to believe he can repeat it, but Littell has proven himself as a reliable innings-eater.

14. Tomoyuki Sugano (36, RHP, Orioles)

A tale of three seasons for Sugano, who started strongly, faded badly and then made a mini-comeback to land almost exactly on the definition of ‘quality start’: A 10-10 record and 4.64 ERA. Probably did enough to land another job stateside in 2026.

15. Michael Conforto (33, OF, Dodgers)

Will that beautiful left-handed swing again prove irresistible to a suitor? The Dodgers gambled $17 million that they could turn him into a weapon and he batted .199 and did not make the playoff rosters.

16. Marcell Ozuna (35, DH, Braves)

Last call for the full-time DH? The Braves couldn’t get rid of Ozuna at the trade deadline and now he’ll take his 21 homers to the market. Hit 40 and 39 homers in 2023-24, finishing fourth in NL MVP voting in ’24.

17. Isiah Kiner-Falefa (31, INF, Blue Jays)

Simple though his role may be, there’s simply not many IKFs out there, tasked with catching the ball, running the bases well and possessing the ability to fill in anywhere on the infield.

18. Austin Hays (30, OF, Reds)

Cincy was a solid fit for Hays, who smacked 15 homers in 380 at-bats. Still adept in a right-handed platoon role.

19. Patrick Corbin (36, LHP, Rangers)

Can still eat innings – 155 of ‘em in 2025 – and now with a little less pain, as he shaved his ERA from 5.62 his final year in Washington to 4.40 in Texas.

20. David Robertson (40, RHP, Phillies)

Used to be only Roger Clemens could get away with chilling out for a few months and then hopping aboard a playoff train. Robertson did so to some success in Philly; will he be up for the long haul next spring?

21. Tommy Kahnle (36, RHP, Tigers)

Leaving New York – where he’d posted a 2.38 ERA his past two seasons – was tricky for Kahnle, whose 4.43 ERA was his worst since 2018.

22. Daniel Coulombe (36, LHP, Rangers)

Was better before he got caught up in the Twins fire sale (1.16 ERA in Minnesota, 5.25 in 15 appearances in Texas) but on balance remains one of the most reliable and versatile lefty relief options available.

23. Walker Buehler (31, RHP, Phillies)

The arm is too good to give up on, even if the Red Sox had little choice but to do so after posting a 5.45 ERA and 5.89 FIP in 22 starts there. He fared a little better in a two-start look-see with Philadelphia, but he’ll clearly be in a short-term incentive-laden situation in 2025.

24. Jon Gray (34, RHP, Rangers)

His 2025 was a wash, as a fractured wrist in spring training and shoulder neuritis limited him to six appearances.

25. Tyler Anderson (36, LHP, Angels)

Seemed like a quick three years in Anaheim, mercifully, where Anderson posted a good year, not-so-good and a so-so season. He’s coming off the last of those, the biggest bugaboo a career worst 1.8 homers per nine.

26. Miles Mikolas (37, RHP, Cardinals)

A bit of will-he or won’t-he involved with Mikolas, who may retire, though he’s never one to leave any innings on the table. Last year, he ate up 156 ⅓ of them, with a 4.84 ERA.

27. Miguel Andujar (30, INF, Reds)

A nifty revival for the 2018 Rookie of the Year runner-up, as he posted an .822 OPS with the A’s and Reds and positioned himself as a versatile righty platoon bat going forward.

28. Justin Wilson (38, LHP, Red Sox)

About as close to a LOOGY as one can get in this three-batter minimum era, as Wilson tossed 48 1/3 innings in 61 appearances, holding lefties to a .212 average.

29. Mitch Garver (35, C/DH, Mariners)

The bat continues to fade, but Garver did catch 43 games backing up the Big Dumper in Seattle.

30. Scott Barlow (33, RHP, Reds)

A throw-till-you-blow guy and well, Barlow hasn’t blown yet, his 75 appearances always a value to a team needing innings.

31. Martin Perez (34, LHP, White Sox)

Declined the player portion of his mutual option after a flexor strain limited him to 10 starts in 2025.

32. Starling Marte (37, OF, Mets)

His four years of meritorious, if injury-plagued, service in Flushing are over. But Marte should still retain some value as an extra outfielder.

33. Andrew McCutchen (39, OF, Pirates)

He’s not so sure about that open invitation to return to Pittsburgh, but has indicated he’ll run it back one more time, somewhere, in 2026.

34. Brent Suter (36, LHP, Reds)

If only for the post-clinch dance moves. For real, though, Suter never pitched more than 3 ⅔ innings last season but appeared in innings 1 through 9 at some point. Anytime, anywhere.

As the Cornhuskers marched to their best start in program history with a 20-0 record, players told USA TODAY Sports in December ‘we’re not going to go undefeated.’ A loss would happen, it was just a matter of when.

It finally happened Tuesday, Jan. 27 with Nebraska, in the top five of the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll for the first time, falling on the road to No. 2 Michigan in a monster Big Ten clash.

We were going to learn a lot in the contest. Is Nebraska legit? Is Michigan still the Big Ten and national championship favorite?

Turns out, both are true.

It was an entertaining contest that showed Michigan is still on the path to the Final Four, and the Cornhuskers cannot be ignored anymore. The Wolverines are real. So is Nebrasketball − even in a loss.

“That just proved to everybody, most importantly to those guys in the locker room, that we can compete with anybody in this country,’ Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said.

Michigan had to really work for this one. The team that started the season blowing every team out of the water was the one trying to swim out of a rip current. After Michigan took a 3-2 lead in the first two minutes, Nebraska took control and were comfortably holding the lead.

The Cornhuskers were on fire. Jamarques Lawrence was money from deep and the rest of the team seemingly drilled every shot that went in the air. Nebraska averages 10 made 3-pointers a game, and it achieved that in just 18 minutes. The Wolverines looked shell shocked. They couldn’t keep up, trailing by as much as 11 points in the first frame and down at halftime. Oh, and all of this came with Nebraska’s second and third leading scorers in Rienk Mast and Braden Frager out.

It was an ugly second half. However, that suited Michigan, and Nebraska’s inexperience showed.

The Cornhuskers couldn’t maintain their hot shooting, allowing the Wolverines to hang around. The game turned from a fast-paced shooting frenzy to a physical one that didn’t suit Nebraska. Michigan got to the foul line while ratcheting up the defensive intensity.

Despite Michigan shooting just 6-for-24 (25%) in the second half with 11 turnovers, it went 14-for-17 from the free throw line. Nebraska shot just four free throws all game, and the magic wore off with a 1-for-13 mark from deep in the second half. Michigan only made one shot in the final five minutes, but the Cornhuskers didn’t score in the final three minutes.

It wasn’t pretty, but that can happen. The great teams find ways to win even when everything is going wrong. You need wins like this to prepare you for March, when it will inevitably happen as the competition gets stiffer each round.

As January nears an end, Michigan still remains the class of the Big Ten. It’s the best candidate to be the first from the conference to win a national championship since 2000. It has had some not-so-incredible performances in the first month of Big Ten play and it only has one loss. If the Wolverines are firing on all cylinders, there’s little hope for opponents.

At the same time, Nebraska proved its legitimacy. People have been cautious to believe the Cornhuskers are for real, and wanted to see how they measured up against a top-tier foe. The Cornhuskers nearly beat Michigan without two of their top three scorers.

“That team is projected by a lot of people to win a national championship,’ Hoiberg said. ‘You fight them all the way to the finish, you lose by a basket. That shows the character of our team and it also shows we can compete with anybody in the country.’

Michigan has to admit it was outplayed most of the game. The Cornhuskers just couldn’t close the deal late, as they ran out of steam. There is such a thing as finding a win in a loss, and Nebraska still is poised to contend in the Big Ten and make some program history in the NCAA Tournament.

‘We’re going to compete for the Final Four, and I think we just put ourselves in that conversation,’ said Nebraska guard Sam Hoiberg.

It was a great battle, and you could only imagine what this game would be like in Lincoln with the Cornhuskers at full strength. Or even better, in a postseason contest.

‘Hopefully we’ll see them in March, April,’ Michigan coach Dusty May said postgame on the Peacock broadcast.

Let’s hope so, because both of these teams are capable of some magical things.

MELBOURNE — Defending champion Jannik Sinner scorched American eighth seed Ben Shelton 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and moved into the Australian Open semifinals, setting up a blockbuster showdown with 10-time winner Novak Djokovic.

The second seed, who is firmly on course for his third title at Melbourne Park in as many years, tightened his vice-like grip on the rivalry with Shelton by sealing his ninth consecutive win, all of which have been without conceding a set.

Despite a comfortable win to reach his ninth Grand Slam semi-final and sixth in a row, Sinner faced moments where he was tested by Shelton’s thunderous serves, including one that nearly crashed into his body leaving him little time to react.

‘It’s very tough to play against Ben, he’s got a huge serve and he’s improving year after year,’ said Sinner. ‘After the offseason, you never know how certain players are going to play against you.

‘It’s not always, the power that matters. The serves I can handle are a little bit closer to my body. It’s slightly easier, but it’s a completely different serve, he’s a lefty, we don’t have many lefties in our game.

‘It’s definitely one of the toughest challenges to return his serve.’

Sinner looked to be on his way when he pulled off a stunning winner by gently caressing the ball around the net post en route to breaking in the fourth game, before claiming the opening set with little trouble.

Shelton went up a gear and earned a breakpoint at 1-2 down in the second set, but Sinner snuffed out the challenge to surge into another commanding lead despite looking off-colour at times and he closed out the frame when the American sent a shot long.

Sinner suffered cramps in the third round on a blazing day before seeing off American Eliot Spizzirri and then defeated Luciano Darderi in the last round, but said he was moving a lot better on Wednesday.

‘I feel stronger physically again,’ he added.

‘I’m happy … to be in the semifinals again. We all know what challenge I’m up against and I’m looking forward to it.’

A couple of breakpoints came and went in the fifth game of the third set but Sinner benefited from a Shelton double fault to go 5-4 up and wrapped up the win on serve to ensure his meeting with 24-times major champion Djokovic.

‘These are the moments you practice for, you wake up in the morning and you look forward to play, hopefully a good match,’ Sinner added.

‘You have to play at your best. I’m looking forward to it. But also in the past, I’ve had great lessons. It doesn’t really matter if you win, it improves you as a player and as a person.

‘We’re still lucky to have Novak playing incredible tennis at his age. We play for you guys (fans) but we also play for us. Hopefully, it’s going to be a great, great battle out here.’

USA TODAY Ad Meter is back for 2026, letting fans vote on the year’s best Super Bowl commercials.

Budweiser won back the crown last year with the famed Clydesdales, edging a heartstring-tugging Lay’s commercial in one of the closest votes in the history of the annual contest.

Other fan-favorite commercials from 2025 included Willem Defoe and Catherine O’Hara as pickleball hustlers (Michelob Ultra) and a modern take on ‘When Harry Met Sally’ (Hellman’s) with a cameo from Sydney Sweeney.

Here’s a look back at the top 10 finishers in last year’s Ad Meter:

Ad Meter: Vote on big game’s best commercials

Best Super Bowl commercials 2025

1. Budweiser – ‘First Delivery’

2. Lay’s – ‘The Little Farmer’

3. Michelob Ultra – ‘The ULTRA Hustle’

4. Stella Artois – ‘David and Dave’

5. NFL – ‘Somebody’

6. NFL – ‘Flag 50’

7. Bud Light – ‘Big Men on Cul-De-Sac’

8. Uber Eats – ‘Century of Cravings’

9. Hellmann’s – ‘When Sally Met Hellmann’s’

10. Pfizer – ‘Knock Out’

Vote on this year’s best commercials

The Longhorns were rankings darlings before the 2025 season. They didn’t live up to the billing, but they finished the season with wins against Texas A&M and Michigan.

Now, with Arch Manning returning, Texas once again is fueling up on big expectations.

That includes the No. 1 spot in USA TODAY’s “too early” top 25 for the 2026 season. So, are they overrated?

On this edition of “SEC Football Unfiltered,” a podcast from the USA TODAY Network, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams consider the eight SEC teams ranked in this top 25 and identify a few overrated and underrated teams.

After Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, Indiana and Notre Dame round out this top five compiled by USA TODAY’s Paul Myerberg and Erick Smith.

Here are the eight SEC teams ranked within the top 25:

• 1. Texas
• 3. Georgia
• 6. Oklahoma
• 8. Texas A&M
• 11. Alabama
• 15. LSU
• 20. Ole Miss
• 24. Tennessee

So, who’s overrated from the SEC?

Adams: Two teams jump out. Georgia and Alabama. The Bulldogs will return a lot from a team that repeated as SEC champions. I think they’re a top-10 team. A playoff team. But, No. 3?

Georgia didn’t do much in the transfer portal, and it will be young at wide receiver. A No. 3 ranking seems too lofty for a team that will look familiar to the one that lost to Mississippi in the CFP quarterfinals. Then again, I trust few coaches like I trust Kirby Smart.

As for Alabama, Ty Simpson emerged as the Crimson Tide’s offensive engine. Now, he’s off to the NFL. So is top receiver Germie Bernard. Is either Austin Mack or Keelon Russell ready to step in at starting quarterback? Several other SEC teams will have more proven quarterbacks.

Toppmeyer: I’ll offer no pushback to the idea that Georgia and Alabama are overrated. I think they’re both a touch high.

I’ll add another: Texas A&M. The Aggies sustained notable losses along the lines of scrimmage after finishing an 11-win season with back-to-back losses to Texas and Miami. They also lost offensive coordinator Collin Klein. He became Kansas State’s coach. The Aggies reloaded with a nice portal haul, but the 2026 schedule will be tougher. Another top-20 season should be expected, but top-10 could be pushing it.

Also, if Texas is No. 1, then it’s almost obvious to view the Longhorns as a bit overrated. If I could take Texas or the field with my national champion pick, I’d take the field. Texas will face six opponents likely to be ranked in the preseason poll.

Which SEC teams are underrated?

Adams: LSU stands out, at No. 15. Lane Kiffin did magnificent work by assembling the nation’s top-ranked transfer class. Not only are his Tigers underrated, he’s transformed them into an SEC frontrunner.

Toppmeyer: If Trinidad Chambliss is granted an extra year of eligibility, then Mississippi is underrated at No. 20. Otherwise, the Rebels’ ranking is appropriate.

This might sound crazy, but I’m tempted to slot Kentucky into the top 25 after the Wildcats’ top-10 transfer haul under new coach Will Stein. That includes the arrival of quarterback Kenny Minchey, the former Notre Dame backup.

Later in the episode

∎ Dabo Swinney named names. The Clemson coach says he’s decided to sic the feeble NCAA on Mississippi’s Pete Golding, after Swinney accused the Rebels coach of tampering to plunder a player off Clemson’s roster.

Where to listen to SEC Football Unfiltered

• Apple
• Spotify
• iHeart
• Google

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. John Adams is the senior sports columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Subscribe to the SEC Football Unfiltered podcast, and check out the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.

After some serious hemming and hawing, Darian Mensah and Duke’s standoff ended Jan. 27, the same day the two sides settled their dispute. The quarterback will play his junior season with the Miami Hurricanes, per On3’s Pete Nakos and Hayes Fawcett, supplanting Carson Beck after Mario Cristobal’s team finished as national runner-up to Indiana.

Mensah, who spent one year in Durham after transferring from Tulane, completed 66.8% of his passes for 3,973 yards, 34 touchdowns and six interceptions in a season where the Blue Devils improbably won the ACC championship. Mensah announced his intent to transfer on Jan. 16. The move was met with pushback from Duke, which said it would pursue breach of contract charges due to ‘irreparable harm’ caused by Mensah’s leaving.

Mensah becomes the latest mercenary quarterback to join Miami’s roster. Before Beck transferred from Georgia for his final college season, Cam Ward had transferred to the Hurricanes from Washington State. In Mensah’s case, his decision to enter the portal was compared to a similar situation with Washington’s Demond Williams. But Williams ultimately stayed in Seattle after the university threatened to sue him.

Mensah will enter as a junior for Miami, so he could declare for the NFL draft after the 2026 season if the next year goes well enough to give him respectable draft stock.

Why was Darian Mensah able to transfer to Miami?

The divorce between Mensah and Duke was not a clean one. The quarterback announced his intention to enter the transfer portal on Jan. 16, and four days later Duke said it would sue him because of the ‘irreparable harm’ his leaving would cause.

That harm, as it turned out, was reparable, as the two sides reached a settlement on Jan. 27, two days before his Jan. 29 preliminary hearing. On the same day, his transfer to Miami was announced.

Mensah will go to a Hurricanes team that has found success with recent transfers Ward and Beck.

Darian Mensah stats

Mensah has found success in each of his first two seasons. He has thrown for 6,696 yards on 523-of-787 passing (66.5%). He has 56 touchdowns to 12 interceptions as well, having thrown six picks in each of his first two years. He led Duke to a 42-39 win in a Sun Bowl thriller over Arizona State, completing 29 of 51 passes for 327 yards, four touchdowns, and one pick.

• 2024 stats (with Tulane): 189-of-287 passing (65.9%), 2,723 yards, 22 touchdowns, 6 interceptions
• 2025 stats (with Duke): 334-of-500 passing (66.8%), 3,973 yards, 34 touchdowns, 6 interceptions